Grounds of the St. Boniface Church by Kathy Alexander.
Scipio is an extinct town in Putnam Township in Anderson County, Kansas. However, it is still home to the beautiful St. Boniface Catholic Church.
The earliest settlers in the Pottawatomie Valley were Catholic priests John Shoemaker and Paul Ponziglione, who dedicated their lives to bringing their faith to the Native Americans of Kansas. They founded several missions in Eastern Kansas during the late 1840s, one of the most prominent of which was near present-day Scipio. In the 1850s, more settlers began settling in the area, many of whom were of German descent.
St. Boniface Church in Scipio, Kansas, by Kathy Alexander.
A settlement soon began on the summit of a ridge overlooking the lush Pottawatomie Valley.
Soon the government relocated the Indians, and the German Catholic community was without a resident priest or church of its own. In 1856 John Wolken and Henry Feuerborn visited Bishop Miege in Leavenworth, Kansas. Hoping for his help, the two informed the bishop of their need for a priest and their hopes of beginning a parish in this community. The bishop promised to send one of his Jesuit missionaries to Scipio to preach mass once a month. But, it wasn’t enough, and Wolken and Feuerborn again asked for a resident priest the following year. Bishop Miege then visited Scipio to assess the situation and was impressed by the people’s faith. In 1858, Father Ivo Schacht was dispatched to Scipio, becoming the first resident priest.
John Wolken donated 20 acres, and soon, a new log church and a small residence for Father Schacht were built. The German Catholics christened the church after their homeland’s patron saint, St. Boniface. It would remain the only Catholic church in Anderson County for 25 years.
On September 6, 1859, a post office was established.
In 1869, the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad reached Scipio.
By the 1870s, the parish had outgrown the small log church, and plans for new accommodations had begun.
In 1873, Father Albert Heimann ordered the construction of a Carmelite Monastery to facilitate the growing number of Carmelite friars at St. Boniface. The site chosen for the monastery building was on higher ground, at the crest of the hill leading down into the Pottawatomie Valley. Father Heimann also ordered the building of Mt. Carmel College directly West of the Monastery. But the number of Catholic clergies worldwide steadily dwindled. The college was the shortest-lived of all these institutions; it lasted a mere two years, closing in 1875.
That year, a one-room parochial school was built.
St. Boniface, Scipio, Kansas. The building with the cupola is the college, and the monastery is directly behind it.
The cornerstone for the new church was put down in 1881. At this time, the monastery was full of Carmelite friars leading a quiet, peaceful life of prayer. The original 20 acres given to the church by John Wolken had grown to approximately 600 acres. The friars living in the monastery practiced subsistence farming methods on these extensive landholdings, including a ten-acre vineyard.
Scipio’s post office closed on March 15, 1905.
Scipio, Kansas, one-room school at left by Kathy Alexander.
In 1910, the town was located on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. It had a gas pumping station for Topeka and other towns outside the gas territory. At that time, it had a population of 58.
A stone structure replaced the original wooden monastery in the same location, but the Carmelite friars are long gone. Much of the land was sold to help pay for renovations to the newer stone monastery. Today, Carmelite Friars maintain the monastery as a retreat center and minister at St. Boniface and nearby St. Therese Parishes.
The railroad tracks were pulled up in the 1980s, and the railway line was converted into a 51-mile walking/biking trail named the Prairie Spirit Trail.
The old one-room parochial schoolhouse is used as a photography studio today.
The students in the area are now transported by bus to the consolidated school in Garnett.
Mount Carmel College, Scipio, Kansas by Kathy Alexander.
St. Boniface Catholic Church is always open. Visitors are always welcome and encouraged to sign the guest book. Visitors can walk the grounds or take a trip down the lane to the cemetery, just west of the church. A beautiful statue depicting the crucifixion marks the spot where the original log church stood.
The monastery and surrounding grounds are beautifully maintained and represent old-country, rural serenity. The church’s interior features three altars arched Romanesque ceilings, and beautiful stained-glass windows.
Scipio is located six miles north of Garnett, near the center of the northern line of the county. St. Boniface is two miles east of Highway 59, just off 2350 Road.
© Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, updated October 2024.
Also See:
St. Boniface Church Interior.
Sources:
Blackmar, Frank W.; Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Vol I; Standard Publishing Company, Chicago, IL 1912.
A Catholic Mission
Kansas Travel
St. Boniface – St. Therese
Stevenson, Matthew; “St. Boniface, Scipio, Anderson County,” Lost Kansas Communities